Age of Automaton Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Common Components
  • Player's Components
• Setup
  • 2-Player Game Setup Changes
  • 3-Player Game Setup Changes
• Before the Game Starts
  • Specialist Cards Drafting
  • Starting Resources
• Your Goal!
• Let's Start
• Market Phase
• Action Phase
  • Playing the Main Actions
  • Playing the Special Actions
  • Reliability Track
  • Playing the Free Action
• Donation Phase
  • Donation Track and Reputation Track
• Audit Phase
  • Resolving an Audit Card
• Clean-up Phase
• Main Action
  • Required Worker Actions
  • Refill a Card Row
  • Prospect Action
    • Resolving the Action
    • Action Bonuses
  • Equipment Action
    • Resolving the Action
    • Equipment Ability
    • Action Bonus
  • R&D Action
    • Resolving the Action
    • Action Bonuses
• Non-Required Worker Actions
  • Funding Action
    • Resolving the Action
  • Assembling Action
    • Resolving the Action
  • Sponsorship Action
    • Resolving the Action
  • Purchasing Action
    • Resolving the Action
• Special Actions
  • Overtime Action
  • Overbuilt Action
  • Overclock Action
  • Overdrive Action
• Free Action
  • Play a Specialist Card
  • Use a Specialist's Ability
  • Discard a Specialist Card
  • Use a Contract Token
• Relationship Tracks
  • Improving Relationships
• Technology Track
  • Build Automatons
  • Upgrading Automatons
• Reputation Track
  • Gaining Reputation
  • Engineers
  • Gaining a VP Token
• Achievements
• End-Game Victory Points
  • Prospect VP
  • Equipment VP
  • R&D VP
  • Sale Order VP
  • Reputation Track VP
  • Donation Track VP
  • Relationship Tracks VP
  • Specialists VP
  • Audit Failed
  • Built Automatons Score
  • Remaining Resources and Credits
• Limited Common Specialists Variant

Components

Common Components

• 1 Main board
• 20 Equipment cards
• 20 R&D cards
• 20 Sale Order cards
• 19 Specialist cards
• 2 Starter Specialist cards
• 10 Audit cards (5 As, and 5 Bs)
• 12 Achievement cards (3 for each level, 1 to 4)
• 6 Blocked Action cards
• 18 Sponsorship tiles (9 R1-R2s, and 9 R3-R5s)
• 1 Round marker
• 1 Audit marker
• 90 Resource tokens (30 for each colour)
• 40 Credit tokens (10 5-cells, and 30 1-cells)
• 2 2-VP tokens
• 2 1-VP tokens
• 16 Minus-3-VP tokens
• 4 Blocked Action markers
• 3 Resource dice
• 3 Level dice
• 1 Audit die

Player's Components

• 4 Player boards
• 16 Action markers (4 for each colour)
• 4 VP markers (1 for each colour)
• 8 Turn Order markers (2 for each colour)
• 4 Donation markers (1 for each colour)
• 4 Reputation markers (1 for each colour)
• 12 Relationship markers (3 for each colour)
• 16 Prospect markers (4 for each colour)
• 4 Reliability markers (1 for each colour)
• 16 Achievement markers (4 for each colour)
• 24 Contract tokens (6 for each colour)
• 24 Worker dice (6 each colour)

Setup

These steps are for 4-player setup. There are some changes for 2 and 3-player setup which are explained below.

1. Place the main board at the centre of the play area where all players can reach. Gather all credit tokens and resource tokens. Then, place them next to the main board to form the common supplies.
2. Shuffle Equipment, R&D, and Sale Order cards separately, defined by the back of the cards, place each deck face-down on the main board.
3. Fill the Equipment, R&D, and Sales Order cards rows by drawing one card from each deck at a time and place it face-up on the leftmost available space of its own row, until the row is full (4 cards per row).
4. Take all Sponsorship tiles with R1-R2 and shuffle them together. Place them face-down on the main board.
5. Fill the Sponsorship row by drawing one Sponsorship tile at a time and place it face-up on the leftmost available space until the row is full (5 tiles).
6. Shuffle each deck of the 1-star, 2-star, 3-star, and 4-star Achievement cards separately. Then, draw one card from each deck and return the remaining cards to the box. Place all drawn cards face-up on the main board.
7. Shuffle each deck of the Audit A and Audit B Audit cards separately. Then, draw two cards from each deck and return the remaining cards to the box. Place the drawn cards face-up in the horizontal row above the main board, arrange them in the following order: Audit A, Audit A, Audit B, and Audit B.
8. Place TWO STARTER Specialist cards face-up on the left side of the main board.
9. Shuffle all Specialist cards. Then, draw ONE card and place it face-up next to the starting Specialist cards. These cards become "COMMON SPECIALISTS". Set aside the remaining Specialist cards, they will be used later.
10. Place the Round marker on the Round track at R1.
11. Place the Audit marker on the leftmost Audit card; DO NOT place it on any spaces.
12. Create TWO stacks of ONE 2-VP token at the top and ONE 1-VP token at the bottom. Place each stack on the spaces numbered 5 and 10 on the Reputation track.
13. Each player selects a colour and takes all components belonging to that colour.
14. Each player places ONE Prospect marker on EACH of the Prospect tracks.

2-Player Game Setup Changes

1. Place Blocked Action markers on one of the worker spaces of Prospect, Equipment, R&D, and Sale action.
2. Use only THREE Sponsorship tiles instead of FIVE tiles.
3. Draw THREE (instead of one) Specialist cards randomly and place them face-up in the Common Specialist Area. Now, there are FIVE common specialists (2 Starter Specialist cards and 3 Random Specialist cards).
4. Place each 2-VP token (instead of a stack of 2-VP and 1-VP tokens) on the space numbered 5 and 10 on the Reputation track.

(The illustration shows the Blocked Action markers placed on the Equipment and R&D bonus areas of the Company Building.)

3-Player Game Setup Changes

1. Shuffle all Blocked Actions cards and place them face-down near the main board. Leave some space for its discard pile.
2. Use only FOUR Sponsorship tiles instead of FIVE tiles.
3. Draw TWO (instead of one) Specialist cards randomly and place them face-up in the Common Specialist Area. Now, there are FOUR common specialists (2 Starter Specialist cards and 2 Random Specialist cards).

Before the Game Starts

Specialist Cards Drafting

Before starting the game, drafting Specialist cards is recommended. It is not essential, but it helps you plan the game better.

All players select ONE Specialist card from their hand and set it aside; pass another THREE cards to the player on the left.

Then, again, select ONE card from the three cards; set it aside; pass another TWO to the player on the left.

Lastly, select ONE card from the two cards and set it aside; pass the last card to the player on the left.

Take all set-aside cards to your hand, together with the last card you received. Now, each player has FOUR Specialist cards. The game is ready!

Starting Resources

For the starting resources, each player takes the resources as depicted in the table below, no matter how many players.

Players	Credit	Resources	Workers
1st Player	3	1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow resource token	1 Level I, 1 Level IV
2nd Player	4	1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow resource token	1 Level I, 1 Level IV
3rd Player	4	1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow resource token	1 Level II, 1 Level IV
4th Player	5	1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow resource token	1 Level II, 1 Level IV

IMPORTANT - Resource Tokens Limitation: Each player can hold a total of TEN resource tokens; however, there is no limit for Credit tokens. If a player gains resources exceeding the limit of ten tokens, discard any tokens in a player's supply IMMEDIATELY (including the newly gained), until the player has only TEN resource tokens in the supply.

Your Goal!

In Age of Automaton, players compete with each other in various ways to earn the Victory Points (VP). The player with the highest Victory Points at the end of the FIFTH round wins the game.

Let's Start

The game is played in FIVE rounds. Each round consists of FIVE phases: Market phase, Actions phase, Donation phase, Audit phase, and Clean-up phase.

Market Phase

In this phase, the first player rolls THREE resource dice and places resource tokens on the "MARKET" space. These resource tokens stay on the Market space until the end of the round. Whenever a player plays the Purchasing action in the current round, the first three resource tokens that player would take from the common supply are the same tokens on the Market space.

Action Phase

All players take turns, one player at a time, starting from the first player. At each turn, a player must play only ONE main action; however, a player can play as many special actions or free actions as possible and desired.

These special actions and free actions must be played before or after, but not during a main action unless stated otherwise.

IMPORTANT: A player MAY NOT select any action which cannot be played.

For a 3-player game, at the beginning of the Action phase, follow these steps:

1. For the first round draw ONE Blocked Actions card from the Blocked Action deck and place it face-up in the discard pile. Otherwise place the top card of the deck in the discard pile.
2. For EACH depicted action in the card, place ONE Blocked Action marker on a worker space of that action.
3. Flip the top card of the deck face-up. Everyone can see which actions will be blocked in the next round.

Playing the Main Actions

There are 8 main actions: Prospect, Equipment, R&D, Sale, Funding, Assembling, Sponsorship, and Purchasing.

By playing a main action, a player places an Action marker on the selected main action space, resolves the selected action, and gains the action's bonus if it exists.

A player can play a main action with these following restrictions:

1. Each main action can be played only ONCE per round.
2. Only ONE main action can be played per column per round unless a player plays "OVERTIME" (see page 27).

Example: If PROSPECT is played this round, FUNDING cannot be played in the same round, unless OVERTIME is played.

The details of each main action are explained on page 16.

Playing the Special Actions

There are 4 special actions: Overtime, Overbuild, Overclock, and Overdrive.

The Special Actions area of the player board shows: Overtime (1 reliability, 2 credits), Overbuild (1 reliability, 3 credits), Overclock (1 reliability, 2 credits), Overdrive (1 reliability, 1 credit).

Each time a player plays a special action, that player loses ONE AND ONLY ONE reliability, pays credits, and resolves the action's symbols as depicted on the right side of a player board.

The details of each special action are explained on page 27.

Reliability Track

In this game, a player loses reliability only when playing Special actions. Whenever a player loses ONE reliability, move the player's Reliability token ONE space to the left.

If the token is moved on a space containing benefits, the player gains those benefits IMMEDIATELY.

If a player's Reliability token goes below "0" for the first time, move the token ONE space to the left and pay TWO additional credits. Then, resolve the action and pay credits normally.

Later in the game, whenever a player loses reliability, but the token can no longer be moved, keep the token in the last space and pay TWO additional credits. Then, pay credits and resolve the action normally.

NOTE: Please be reminded that there is no way to gain Reliability in this game.

Playing the Free Action

There are 4 free actions: play a Specialist card, use a specialist's ability, discard a specialist card, and use a contract token.

The details of each free action are explained on page 29.

Donation Phase

In reverse turn order, one after another, each player donates resources and credits to advance the Donation track and gain the end-game VP. The total number of donated resources and/or credits must NOT exceed the total number of advanced PROSPECT TRACKS PLUS TWO, no matter how many advanced spaces on each track. After a player donates a number of resources and/or credits, move the player's Donation marker that many spaces to the right.

Example: Tyler has advanced 2 out of 4 prospect tracks, so he can donate a total of 4 resources and/or credits (2 + 2). Tyler donates 2 resources and 1 credit. He moves his Donation marker 3 spaces to the right.

Donation Track and Reputation Track

Whenever a player moves a Donation marker onto a space containing a Reputation (megaphone) icon, that player IMMEDIATELY increases reputation by ONE (see Reputation track on page 33). Then, continue moving the Donation marker if there are remaining moves.

Some abilities with a Donation (crossed-out reputation) icon allow a player to move the Donation marker ONE space to the right; however, if the marker is moved onto a space containing a reputation icon, that player DOES NOT gain any reputation.

Audit Phase

Audit phase starts from the second round (skip this phase for the first round).

To resolve this phase, follow these steps:

1. The current first player rolls the Audit die and moves the Audit marker that many spaces to the right on the Audit track.
2. If the token stops on or passes through the trigger space (green check mark), resolve that card after the token is finished moving.
3. The resolved Audit card is flipped. If the Audit token stops on the trigger of the flipped card, put the token on the rightmost space of that flipped card. Otherwise, the token stays on the stopped space.

Resolving an Audit Card

Whenever an Audit card is triggered, each player checks whether they meet the requirement on the card. There are five different types of requirements:

• Have equal or more credits
• Have equal or more resource tokens
• Have purchased an equal or greater number of the depicted card type
• Have advanced an equal or greater number of Prospect tracks
• Have an equal or greater number of workers at a specific level on the Technology track

A player who does not meet the requirement receives ONE Minus-3-VP token.

Example: A triggered Audit card requires each player to have at least 4 credits. Emily has only 2 credits now. She gets ONE Minus-3-VP token.

Clean-up Phase

Follow these steps for each Clean-up phase:

1. Each player whose Reliability marker is on a space within section NUMBER "4", scores ONE VP.

NOTE: In the FIFTH round, skip steps 2 - 8.

2. Return all three resource tokens in the Market space to the common supply.
3. Return all worker dice on each worker space, and each player's Equipment cards to their owner.

IMPORTANT: Leave all worker dice on the Technology track as they are.

4. Discard the leftmost Equipment, R&D, and Sale Order cards. Slide all cards on each row to the left. Draw one card from each deck and place it on the empty space on its own row. If there are not enough cards, reshuffle the discarded cards.
5. Discard all Sponsorship tiles. Drawing one tile at a time from the Sponsorship deck and placing it on the leftmost empty space in the row until the row is refilled. If the deck is empty, reshuffle the discarded tiles and keep drawing until the row is filled.

NOTE: For the SECOND round's Clean-up phase, remove all Sponsorship tiles with R1-R2 from the game and return them to the box. Use the Sponsorship tiles with R3-R5.

6. Remove all Contract tokens on all cards in the Common Specialist area from the game and return them to the box.
7. If there are no Turn Order markers on the Next Turn Order track, the turn order stays the same; skip these steps. Otherwise, adjust turn order in the following steps:
   • 7.1. Discard the Turn Order markers, on the Current Turn Order track, of the same colours which are on the Next Turn Order track.
   • 7.2. Slide down all remaining markers on the Current Turn Order track until there are enough spaces for the markers on the Next Turn Order track. Do not reorder any markers.
   • 7.3. Slide the markers on the Next Turn Order track to the Current Turn Order track with the same order. Do not reorder any markers.
8. Move Round marker down ONE space. If the Round marker is moved onto the R4 space, all players take their own Action marker to the players' play area. From now on, each player has FOUR actions.
9. Rotate all rotated Specialist cards 90 degrees counterclockwise. They will be ready for using in the next round.

Main Action

There are two types of the main actions - required worker and non-required worker.

Required Worker Actions

Required worker actions are Prospect, Equipment, R&D, and Sale.

To play these actions, take the following steps:

1. Place an Action marker on the selected action space on a player board.
2. Take ONE worker from the TECHNOLOGY track and place it on an available selected action's worker space.
3. Resolve the selected action based on the worker's LEVEL (see resolving each action in the next topic).
4. Receive the action's bonuses depicted on the main board.

IMPORTANT: Workers in each player's play area cannot be played because they are unbuilt automatons. Only the workers in the Technology track can be played.

NOTE: The right most worker space is reserved only for Level IV workers.

Refill a Card Row

Whenever an Equipment, R&D, or Sale Order card is taken, REFILL that empty space IMMEDIATELY by sliding all the cards from the right to the left of the empty space until only the rightmost space is empty. Then, draw a card from the deck and place it face-up on the empty rightmost space.

Prospect Action

All players compete to advance their Prospect marker to the top of each track. ONLY ONE player can occupy the top space of each Prospect track.

Resolving the Action

After a player places a worker on the Prospect action's worker space, Prospect action is resolved in the following steps:

1. A player selects ONLY ONE track and announces to other players.

2. The player rolls 3 Level dice and compares each die to the player's placed worker's level.

   • a. PASS if a die result is equal to or lower than the worker's level.
   • b. FAIL if a die result is higher than the worker's level.

   NOTE: The OVERDRIVE action (see page 28) can be played while resolving Prospect action. Overdrive helps players by decreasing all Level dice's results.

3. A player moves a Prospect marker up ONE space on the selected track for each PASS. Moving onto some spaces requires a player to pay credits, and/or possess enough R&D and/or Sale Order cards. If a player cannot fulfil the requirements, that player MAY NOT move the Prospect markers onto the next space and the remaining PASSES are LOST.

4. For each space the Prospect token is moved onto, the player immediately gains the benefits depicted on the right side of that space (except for end game VP). Benefits can be reputation (see Reputation track on page 33) and/or relationship (see Relationship tracks on page 31).

Action Bonuses

A Prospect action's bonus is based on the selected track.

• Green asteroid track: Gain a total number of RED and/or YELLOW resource tokens equal to the played worker's level.
• Teal ringed-planet track: Gain a total number of RED and/or BLUE resource tokens equal to the played worker's level.
• Red planet track: Gain a total number of BLUE and/or YELLOW resource tokens equal to the played worker's level.
• White moon track: Gain a total number of ANY COLORS of resource tokens equal to the played worker's level.

Equipment Action

Purchasing Equipment cards improves main actions' benefits and grants lots of VP when playing with a high level worker.

Resolving the Action

After a player places a worker on the Equipment action's worker space, Equipment action is resolved in the following steps:

1. The player takes a card from the Equipment row based on the played workers' level; Level I can purchase only the leftmost cards; Level IV, on the other hand, can purchase any cards in the row. (Level I: leftmost card only; Level II: first two; Level III: first three; Level IV: any of the four.)

2. Refill the row immediately (see page 17).

3. Pay resources depicted at the top of the taken card.

4. Place the taken card next to the player board.

5. Play the extra action depicted in the top part of the card. The extra action is a ONE-TIME action. It must be played IMMEDIATELY in this step. Otherwise, this action is LOST.

   Follow these steps for resolving the extra action:

   • 5.1. Take ONE worker from the TECHNOLOGY track and place it on the card.
   • 5.2. Resolve the extra action normally as if a player plays a main action. If it is an Equipment action, the player can purchase another Equipment card, but MAY NOT use that card's extra action. Special actions and Free actions can be used in this step before or after resolving the extra action.

6. Select one of the four columns in the player board and place the taken card below the board (or an existing card), align the card with the column. The placed card MAY NOT be moved for the rest of the game. Each column can contain up to TWO equipment cards.

7. Tuck the taken card under the player board (or an existing Equipment card), covering only the top part of the card. If there is a worker die on the card, leave the die as it is. This die MAY NOT be used for Assembling action until the end of the round.

IMPORTANT: As a passive ability, each Equipment card provides a discount for purchasing the next Equipment cards. This discount applies IMMEDIATELY after the card is purchased. These discounts are accumulated. The number of paid resources never goes below 0.

Example: From the images above, Emily is purchasing an Equipment card that costs TWO red tokens and ONE yellow tokens. At her board, she has discounts for ONE red, One blue, and TWO yellow tokens. So, she pays ONE red token to purchase the card (2 - 1 for red, and 1 - 1 for yellow).

Equipment Ability

Equipment cards' abilities in each column can be used AFTER a player places an Action marker in that column. These abilities must be used BEFORE and/or AFTER resolving the selected main action.

These abilities MAY NOT be used when a player plays a extra action on an Equipment card.

Action Bonus

A player scores VP equal to the level of the played worker.

R&D Action

R&D is the best way to upgrade workers. Moreover, players collect automaton parts and score VP for each set of parts at the end of the game.

Resolving the Action

After a player places a worker on the R&D action's worker space, R&D action is resolved in the following steps:

1. The player takes a card from the R&D row based on the played workers' level; Level I can purchase only the leftmost cards; Level IV, on the other hand, can purchase any cards in the row.
2. Refill the row immediately (see page 17).
3. Gain benefits from the card which normally are: upgrading workers (see Technology track on page 32) and improving relationships (see Relationship track on page 31).
4. Place the taken card face-down in the player's play area.

Action Bonuses

An R&D action's bonus is based on the round in which it is played.

• R1: A player gains a number of CREDITS equal to the number of played worker's level.
• R2+: A player gains a total number of ANY resource tokens and/or CREDITS equal to the level of the played worker.

Sale Action

Sale Order cards increase players' reputation, improve relationships, and grant end-game VP.

Resolving the Action

After a player places a worker on the worker space, the Sale action is resolved in the following steps:

1. The player takes a card from the Sale row based on the played worker's level; Level I can purchase only the leftmost cards; Level IV, on the other hand, can purchase any cards in the row.
2. Refill the row immediately (see page 17).
3. Pay resources depicted at the top of the taken card.
4. IMMEDIATELY improve a relationship (see Relationship track on page 31) and increase ONE reputation (see Reputation track on page 33).
5. Place the taken card face-down in the player's play area.

Action Bonuses

A player gains a number of CREDITS equal to the level of the played worker.

Non-Required Worker Actions

Non-Required worker actions are Funding, Assembling, Sponsorship, and Purchasing.

Whenever a player plays one of these actions, place an Action marker on the action space, on the player board. Then, resolve the selected action.

Funding Action

Funding action is the easiest way to gain credits. The number of ENGINEERS directly affects the number of credits gained. The more engineers, the more credits gained.

Resolving the Action

After a player places an Action token on the Funding action space, Funding action is resolved in the following steps:

1. Take THREE credits from the common supply.
2. Take ONE additional credit per ONE engineer depicted on the Reputation track (see Reputation track on page 33).

Example: Emily plays the Funding action; she takes 3 credits and 2 additional credits due to her Reputation token is on the space number 6.

Assembling Action

Assembling action allows a player to build new workers. The number of purchased SALE ORDER cards affects the LEVEL of the FIRST added worker, and the number of ENGINEERS affect the number of added workers.

Resolving the Action

After a player places an Action token on the Assembling action space, Assembling action is resolved in the following steps:

1. Take ONE worker from the player's play area (NOT on any Equipment cards) and place it on the Technology track. Then immediately upgrade ONE level per purchased SALE ORDER card. This worker MAY NOT be upgraded higher than LEVEL IV.
2. For EACH engineer (see Reputation track on page 33), take ONE worker from the player's play area (NOT on any Equipment cards) and place it on the LEVEL I space on the Technology track.

Example: Tyler plays the Assembling action; he takes 1 worker die and places it in the LEVEL III space because he has purchased TWO Sale Order cards; he takes TWO additional Level I workers because his Reputation token is on space number 6 on the Reputation track, so he has TWO engineers.

NOTE: If a player doesn't have enough unbuilt workers to be placed on the Technology track, place only the remaining unbuilt workers on the Technology track.

Sponsorship Action

Playing Sponsorship action helps players to gain some useful benefits for free, and grants a better position on the Next Turn Order track.

Resolving the Action

After a player places an Action token on the Sponsorship action space, Sponsorship action is resolved in the following steps:

1. Take ONE Sponsorship tile from the Sponsorship row. DO NOT refill the row.
2. Gain benefits depicted on the tile.
3. Discard the taken tile next to the main board.
4. Place the player's Turn Order marker (the one which is not on the board) in the topmost empty space on the Next Turn Order track; however, if that player is currently the first player, that player cannot claim the first player in the next round again. place the token on the next available space instead.

Purchasing Action

Purchasing action helps players to gain more resources. The number of ENGINEERS directly affects the number of resource tokens gained. The more engineers, the more resource tokens gained.

Resolving the Action

After a player places an Action token on the Purchasing action space, Purchasing action is resolved in the following steps:

1. Take THREE resource tokens from the common supply MATCHING the resource tokens on the MARKET space on the main board.
2. For EACH engineer (See Reputation track on page 33), roll ONE Resource die and gain ONE resource token from the common supply.

Example: Emily plays the Purchasing action. She sees that there are 1 red token, 1 yellow token and 1 blue token on the Market. Her Reputation token is on space number 6, so she has 2 engineer. She then rolls 2 resource dice and gets 2 more red tokens from the common supply.

Special Actions

Special actions must be played BEFORE OR AFTER an action, unless stated otherwise.

Overtime Action

Overtime allows players to play two DIFFERENT actions, in the SAME column of the same round. Overtime must be played IMMEDIATELY right before playing that main action.

To play the Overtime, follow these steps:

1. A player loses ONE reliability (see Reliability track on page 12), pays TWO credits.
2. The player plays main action normally.

Overbuilt Action

Overbuilt allows players to add ONE LEVEL I worker on the Technology track.

To play the Overbuilt, follow these steps:

1. The player loses ONE Reliability (see Reliability track on page 12) and pays THREE credits.
2. Takes ONE worker die and places it into the LEVEL I space on the Technology track.

Overclock Action

Overclock allows players to upgrade ONE worker ONE level.

To play the Overclock, follow these steps:

1. The player loses ONE reliability (see Reliability track on page 12) and pays TWO credits.
2. On the Technology track, move ONE of that player's worker to the next level space.

Overdrive Action

Overdrive action helps players to move further on the Prospect tracks. This action MUST be played AFTER the Level dice are rolled.

To play the Overdrive, after the Level dice are rolled, follow these steps:

1. The player loses ONE AND ONLY ONE reliability (see Reliability track on page 12)
2. The player pays ONE credit and decreases ALL Level dice rolled results by ONE (the number will never go below I); this can be done multiple times.

Example: Emily plays Prospect action with a Level II worker. She wants to move up two spaces on the selected Prospect track. However, her rolled results are II, IV, and V; she decides to play Overdrive; she loses one reliability and pays 2 credits; her new rolled dice results are I, II, and III; she moves her Prospect token on the selected track two spaces up.

Free Action

Free actions must be played BEFORE OR AFTER but not during an action unless stated otherwise.

Play a Specialist Card

Whenever a player has enough resources depicted at the top of each Specialist card, that card can be played from the player's hand to the Specialist area, at the left side of a player board. The played Specialist cards stay there for the rest of the game. DO NOT pay any resource tokens.

Use a Specialist's Ability

Each played specialist's ability can be used ONCE per round by rotating the card 90 degrees clockwise and resolving its ability. The card will be rotated back at the Clean-up phase of the round.

Discard a Specialist Card

Specialist cards can be discarded from a player's hand to the COMMON SPECIALISTS area. Then that player gains the following benefits:

1. Gain resource tokens from the common supply depicted at the bottom of the discarded card.
2. Play ONE of these actions: Overtime, Overbuilt, or Overclock WITHOUT paying any credits; however, the player still loses ONE reliability. (Overdrive cannot be played this way.)

Use a Contract Token

A player can play a common specialist's ability by placing a Contract token on the selected Specialist card in the Common Specialist area and resolving the card's ability.

IMPORTANT: Each common specialist can be played by multiple players, but each one can be played only ONCE per player per round.

NOTE: Each player has only 6 Contract tokens. Played contract tokens will be REMOVED from the game in the Clean-up phase. Plan carefully before using them.

Relationship Tracks

Relationship tracks represent the relationships between players and world famous companies. Each track represents each company (an icon on the left of a track).

Each company provides players VP, at the end of the game, depending on their focus (see End-game Victory Points on page 34) which is depicted on the right side of each track.

The three Relationship tracks (top to bottom: green/yellow company, blue rocket company, orange planet company) have the following spaces, from left to right: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 (first track); 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 (second track); 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 (third track). The right side of each track shows a multiplier (x) with an Achievement marker icon (first track), a card icon (second track), and a Reliability (thumbs-up) icon (third track).

Improving Relationships

Only by playing Prospect, R&D, or Sale action allows a player to improve a relationship.

For EACH company's logo in the Prospect space or in a purchased card, the player moves a Relationship marker, matching the logo, ONE space to the right. If the marker is on the rightmost space on a track, ignore the remaining moves.

Technology Track

Workers on the Technology track are built automatons, ready to be used. Whenever a player plays a required worker action - either a main action or one on an Equipment card - only a worker from this track can be used.

Build Automatons

Whenever a player plays Assembling action, plays Overbuilt action, takes a Sponsorship tile, or plays an ability with "Automaton" icon below (an automaton icon showing level I, II, III, or IV); take a number of worker dice from the player's supply and add them on the level space on the Technology track matching the icon.

These workers are ready to be used immediately.

Upgrading Automatons

Whenever a player plays Overclock action, moves a marker onto a space, or uses an ability with the "Upgrade Automaton" icon below (an automaton icon with one or two up-arrows); select ONE worker on the Technology track and move that worker die ONE space to the right per ONE arrow in the icon. If the moved worker is on the LEVEL IV space, ignore the remaining arrow.

IMPORTANT: Upgrade 2 steps CANNOT be split among multiple workers; upgrade ONLY ONE worker TWO levels.

Reputation Track

Reputation track represents the popularity of players' factories. The more reputation, the more engineers a player has and the more VP a player scores at the end of the game.

Gaining Reputation

Whenever a player plays an ability, purchases a card, or moves a marker onto a space containing Reputation icon (megaphone); move that player's Reputation marker ONE space to the right on the Reputation track for EACH Reputation icon.

Engineers

Engineers represent the number of employees in players' factories. The number of engineers directly affects the benefits of Funding, Assembling, and Purchasing actions. The higher the number of engineers, the better the benefits a player gains.

Example: Tyler's Reputation token is in space number 6 on the Reputation track and he has 2 engineers in his factory.

Gaining a VP Token

Whenever a player's Reputation is moved onto a space with VP tokens (see Setup step 12, on page 7), that player takes the top VP token and gains the VP depicted on in the token. Then removes that token from the game.

Achievements

At any time during the game, players can place their own Achievement tokens on any Achievement cards for which they meet the requirements and gain the benefits (on the right side of the card) IMMEDIATELY.

If the players are the first ones who fulfill a card's requirements, each of those players gains an additional ONE credit or ONE of any resource token.

Example: Tyler meets the requirements on an Achievement card; he places one of his Achievement tokens on that card and gains the benefits on that card; he also gains one additional red resource token since he is the first one to achieve this card.

End-Game Victory Points

The game ends at the end of the FIFTH round. All players sum the end-game VP with the in-game VP.

Prospect VP

On each Prospect track, each player adds the VP in the space where the player's marker is.

Equipment VP

Count the number of purchased Equipment cards; add the VP referring to the table below (maximum VP is 9):

Equipment cards	1	2	3	4	5	6
VP	1	2	3	5	7	9

R&D VP

Count the number of different automaton parts in the purchased R&D cards. Multiple copies of the same part each count as a new set. Add the VP for each set referring to the table below:

Different parts in a set	1	2	3	4	5
VP	2	5	8	12	16

Sale Order VP

Add the end-game VP depicted in each purchased Sale Order card.

Reputation Track VP

On the Reputation track, each player adds the VP depicted ONLY in the space where the player's Reputation marker is.

Donation Track VP

On the Donation track, each player adds the VP in the space where the player's Donation marker is.

Relationship Tracks VP

On the green/yellow company track (first Relationship track), each player counts the number of fulfilled achievements (has the player's achievement marker on a card). Multiply that number with the VP in the space where the player's marker on that track is. Add the result to the player's VP.

On the blue rocket company track (second Relationship track), each player counts the number of played Specialist cards. Multiply that number with the VP in the space where the player's marker on that track is. Add the result to the player's VP.

On the orange planet company track (third Relationship track), see the number in the section where a player's Reliability marker is. Multiply that number with the VP in the space where the player's marker on that track is. Add the result to the player's VP.

Examples: 3 VP x 3 fulfilled achievements = 9 VP; 2 VP x 3 played Specialist cards = 6 VP; 4 VP x Reliability section 4 = 16 VP.

Specialists VP

Add the VP depicted in each of a player's played Specialist cards.

Audit Failed

A player SUBTRACTS THREE VP for each Minus-3-VP token in the player's area.

Built Automatons Score

Count the total LEVEL of all of a player's workers on the Technology track. Divide that number by 2 (round up). Add the result to the player's VP.

Example: workers of levels II, II and III: (2+2+3) / 2 = 7/2 = 3.5, rounded up = 4 VP.

Remaining Resources and Credits

For each set of THREE credits and/or resource tokens (ROUND-DOWN) a player adds ONE VP.

The player with the highest VP wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the higher reputation wins the game. If the game is still a tie, the player with the higher reliability wins. And if the game is still a tie, the winner is the first one to rate this game on the Board Game Geek!

Limited Common Specialists Variant

While testing the game, we found that many players discard specialists from their hands for resources. Later, they are overwhelmed by the number of the common specialists.

In this case, a player's FIRST discarded specialist will go to the Common Specialist area. If that player discards any Specialist cards later in a game, they are removed from the game and are returned to the box.

With this method, the maximum number of common specialists will always be SEVEN.